


set my soul ablaze

by WithYourRhythm



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Background Matt/Keith, Blood and Injury, Crime Fighting, Engagement, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Healthy Relationships, Hero/Villain, Hurt, Identity Reveal, M/M, Minor Violence, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Natural Disasters, Near Death Experiences, Recovery, Superpowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 10:23:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19766230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WithYourRhythm/pseuds/WithYourRhythm
Summary: Water wasn't meant to be controlled, just like Lance. It wanted to move.Or,5 times Lance's powers got him into trouble, and that one time it saved him from just that.





	set my soul ablaze

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of my favorite fics, but for some unknown reason, it had been sitting in my WIPs for far too long.
> 
> (The fic name is from John Bellion's song Guillotine.)

> **1.**

“Hunk, buddy, hey! How’re you doing- Wait, are those cookies? Are you making cookies?” Hunk chuckled as he threw a look towards the door, watching Lance’s expression going from cheerful to hungry the instant he smelled the new cookie batch Hunk just took out of the oven, “Can I have some? Please?”

“Sure, man.” With a smile, he pushed the tray of cookies towards Lance and straightened his red-white apron with a classic ’Kiss the Cook’ design -a Christmas present Lance got for him two years ago- he had on while watching the way Lance’s eyes lightened when he snatched a cookie from the tray. Then, he turned towards the sink, eyeing the dishes with a sigh. He didn't hate cleaning up, not really, but every time he turned his back to the kitchen, the pile of dirty plates increased unnaturally, and cleaning all of that was sometimes a lot more tiring than cooking itself. Though, it wasn't that much of a problem as it sounded, not really. Hunk was fine with cleaning the kitchen as long as Lance got groceries- which was strangely needed far too often. Hunk suspected it had to do something with Keith and the black hole he called a stomach.

Hunk reached the tap and turned the handle. The tap squeaked awfully for a moment before water started flooding. A crunching sound came from behind, then the satisfied moan Lance let out made him blush and fumble with the bottle of soap he reached to, his ears burning with embarrassment. Sometimes Hunk thought that he could never get used to Lance's reactions to his baking.

“Is it good? I think I put a little too much sugar while mixing, so it might be sweeter than usual.”

“Are you kidding me?” The counter shook when Lance jumped to sit on it and settled on the cold marble. Pulling the tray into his lap, he huffed to Hunk, offended, “I would call these the best cookies I’ve ever had if I could really choose between the blueberry ones you always make and this. So please shut up and let me take care of my new babies.”

Hunk chuckled. “Thanks, man.” The recipe wasn't even nearly done, but the compliments were always appreciated, especially if they were coming from Lance. Hunk liked baking for Lance more than anyone would expect, but even though Lance was easy to satisfy about his meals, he knew what to say to make Hunk feel good when he tried out something Hunk made. Also, it did feel good to hear Lance's happy tone when he had his cheeks full of dessert. With how much Hunk adored the sight of Lance trying out a dish of his, it was easy to see why the kitchen was probably one of the rooms Hunk used most in their whole flat. 

Nodding to himself, he put down the clean glass on the counter to dry it after he was done with water and took a dirty wooden spoon, wetting it a little, “Do you always eat your babies, though?”

Lance hummed cheerfully, his voice mixing up with the crunching sounds coming from the cookies he chewed, “Of course I do! What kind of question is that?”

The smile Hunk had on his face seemed like it was stuck there, but that was not strange considering Lance was with him. These days, he was always smiling when Lance was around him, and as much as he wanted to deny it, Pidge had made fun of his supposedly ‘lovestruck’ gaze enough times for him to realize that the feelings he had for Lance was more than what he had thought it was- but thinking of the shining personality of Lance, his soft, playful demeanor and blue eyes, the way how he was so _Lance,_ Hunk should’ve expected the warm pressure that bloomed in his chest every time he saw that bright smile.

“I’ve been thinking about trying out this new recipe with lemons,” Hunk said, rinsing the forks and a plate Lance used yesterday to eat the last batch of cookies Hunk made before. “But we’re almost out of eggs.”

“I can get some with Keith, he wouldn’t say no to going out of his way and drive that horrible thing a few more minutes.”

Hunk laughed lightly, throwing Lance an amused look, “It’s just a motorcycle, Lance,” Reaching to the tap to turn off the water, he continued, “And it _is_ pretty cool, to be honest. He did build it from scratch by himself, after all-”

The water didn’t stop. Hunk frowned, it was pouring out of the tap too fast, violent enough to splash over his yellow shirt, and it wasn’t stopping even though he pushed the handle down. “Uh… Lance?”

“Yeah buddy?” Lance’s voice sounded weird with the cookies he stuffed in his mouth, a little low and hoarse. Hunk knew he probably needed to drink something right about now and Hunk was always the one who gave Lance some warm milk so Lance wouldn’t choke himself by being too hungry to chew, but the water just _didn't stop._

“Lance, there’s something wrong with the tap-”

With a terrible creak, the water pipes shook and the water started to pour out of the sink, too much to be drained properly.

“Shit-” Hunk heard Lance mutter, hopping down from the place he was perched on to walk towards the little valve on the main water pipe that was just by the entrance of kitchen with the intent to close it. While he waited for Lance to stop the water flow, Hunk grabbed a rag that was resting on the counter and tried to press it on the tap to stop the flowing water even though he knew it wouldn’t help at all, thinking on how much time he and Lance would spend to clean this mess. But instead of stopping, more water started to pour out, slowly creating a small pond in the kitchen.

“Uh, Lance? Buddy? Did you close-”

“It’s not working!” Lance’s panicked voice yelled over the noise of water and creaking pipes, “I turned it off, but the water is still coming!”

“Oh, no…” Hunk pressed the rag a little more against the tap, trying to think something, but suddenly the pressure of the water got a lot stronger, pushing his hands away from the tap. It spouted all over Hunk's shirt, strong enough to leave a burning feeling on his chest, and the pressure made him stumble on his own feet backwards, his arms flailing a little as he unsuccessfully tried to hold onto the counter or tap. But instead of falling to the ground like he expected, he felt Lance’s arms sneaking around his waist and holding him tight to pull them out of the way of another powerful spray of water.

They helped each other to stay on their feet, watching as the water reached to the living room and created a little pool there.

“Uh… Hunk?” Lance turned back to Hunk, eyes wide and somehow a lot brighter than the usual, soft blue color it normally was, “We should probably get out of here and- Maybe call someone?” 

Hunk nodded furiously, “Yeah, let’s just- get out.” 

> **2.**

“Lance!” Hunk yelled over the sound of rumbling, ground still shaking with the landslide and rain cold against his skin, causing his clothes to stick onto his skin. “Open your eyes! _Lance!”_

Lance didn’t move from where he was laying on the cave floor he fell in. It wasn’t too deep, but Hunk was so scared of the possibility of what might’ve happened to Lance when he slipped on the mud and fell down onto that ledge headfirst. He sucked in a sharp breath, trying to gather his thoughts instead of thinking what might’ve happened to- no. He wasn’t going to think like that.

Hunk knew he couldn’t leave Lance down there long enough to get help, it was too dangerous. He glanced around, trying to find a way to go down, but there was nothing but mud and rocks around him.

Another rumble shook the cave Lance was in, making Hunk’s heart miss a beat, and he tried to brace himself. He had to get to Lance, one way or another. That meant- oh.

Hunk took a few steps back, trying to see if the distance was enough. The fear was pressing against his chest, stealing the cold air right from his lungs, and his eyes stung because of the dust clouds that appeared with landslide right before the rain started- or maybe because of unshed tears of fear, he didn't know. Hunk hated how he knew he had to do this, but if it meant he could see whatever Lance was breathing or not -Hunk didn’t want to think about the second option at all- he would do it no matter how scared he felt.

Not giving himself more time to think over it and change his mind, Hunk ran and jumped over the crack, the gentle hit of rain against his skin suddenly disappearing because of the rock that rested a few feet over him as he fell towards the low ground of rocks Lance laid on. He landed roughly on his feet right beside Lance with a loud crack that was barely audible in the storm. Air left his lungs in a rush and he went down with a scream. The sharp pain on his left ankle was far too much to handle, he barely managed to throw his hands in front of himself to keep his face from smashing to the ground.

“No, no-” Hunk gasped, tears spilling from his eyes unwillingly as he curled into himself, his -probably- broken leg burning and hurting _so much-_

“Lance,” He gasped out, sniffing loudly, “L- Lance…”

He rolled onto his back, moaning pathetically and sobbing one more time, and threw a hand out blindly to search for Lance. For a moment, nothing touched his hand except pebbles and dirt, but then his wet, freezing-cold fingers bumped into a slightly warm limb, thrown out haphazardly.

Hunk tried to hold onto Lance with hardly moving fingers, barely managing to hold him properly, and pulled his limp body towards himself with the grasp he had on the limb that was apparently Lance's arm. Sweat dripped down from his forehead as he pressed a hand to the side of Lance’s neck, his own heart beating so hard that Hunk could feel it on his fingertips. After a moment of feeling nothing, Lance’s pulse fluttered, strong and steady under his fingers.

Hunk sobbed, muttering meaningless, broken words with gratitude, and held Lance’s head with a careful hand, laying it on the crook of his neck. Even as he listened the way rocks rumbled and shifted over their head, he felt relief bleeding into his heart slowly. He was still scared and in pain, but- Lance was alive. They still had a chance to survive from the landslide and storm.

But that wasn't really true, was it? How could Hunk get them out when he wasn't even able to walk? They were trapped between rocks with no way to get any help and they were not going to make it-

“Please, _no-”_ Dust and little pebbles kept falling on top of their bodies, the noise of it mixing up with the booming sound of rain and thunder as Hunk tried to stop his tears, unable to find a way to get away safely from the ledge they were trapped in, and he pulled Lance tighter against his chest, the throbbing pain in his ankle too much to handle, “Please…” A crack on one of the rocks got wider, more prominent, and a few more pebbles dropped on their heads.

Hunk closed his eyes, sobs escaping from his lips without any restraint as he hugged Lance tighter, his clothes too cold and wet to be comfortable in. Rather than seeing or even hearing, he _felt_ a big rock breaking off from one of the bigger boulders, falling towards them. They were going to die, _they were going to die here-_

For a second, Hunk thought that they both died on that ledge, crushed under countless rocks because of an unlucky trip and bad weather, but then- then the deafening rumbling sounds of rocks stopped and the ground under them shook, slowly moving _upwards._

Hunk opened his eyes and lifted his head up to watch as the dirt and pebbles from the landslide mixed up with the water from rain that barely managed to reach down to the ground they were on to slowly form a steady looking sphere around him and Lance. It was moving up, somehow carrying them up between the boulders, and then it started to slow down, stopping completely after a few seconds as if everything that happened was not real, just a hallucination Hunk saw from fear. But- but they were _alive._

It wasn’t a dream. They were _safe._

The pebbles of the sphere slowly slipped away from the water, falling down around Hunk and Lance. Not a single one touched to either of them, only the rain that was still going on falling in top of them somehow softly was touching their skin, and all too soon, everything was over.

They were alive.

One and a half hour later, an ambulance came to take them to hospital. And two days after that whole accident, Lance was resting to recover from his concussion with Hunk sitting on a chair beside Lance’s hospital bed, a white cast with lots of doodles on it placed on his foot.

It was just the right time for Hunk to have an existential crisis about how he could _feel_ the dirt of the little potted plant Shay brought them, resting on the little table beside the wall.

> **3.**

“Oh my god, Keith!” Lance screeched, hands extended forward to keep the ice he just froze around the thief’s hands from breaking apart, “Watch where you swing that blade of yours!”

With a long-suffering huff, Lance’s new partner -or Keith’s _really_ new partner, but no matter which one of them had been longer in this business, Lance was the leader of their group even though Keith never agreed to that- let his sword descend over the huge metal vault, his fire burning bright and hot on the blade without melting the metal it was made of, which, well. Wasn’t that strange, considering it was made of something Keith’s mother called luxite, a metal she found within a meteorite that fell almost a kilometer away from the shack in the middle of a desert Keith’s family lived in, and no, that _really_ wasn’t creepy at all.

As the metal wall of the vault started to sizzle and drip down to the floor, the thief started the wriggle more, trying to break the ice around his hands and feet off. Lance rolled his eyes, “Dude, chill. We will just give you to the police.”

“After I punch him for stepping on Kosmo’s toy.” Keith mumbled right after Lance, as grumpy as ever. Lance scoffed, he really needed to call Matt to tell him to teach Keith how to be more calm. He couldn't deal with his every single problem by punching whatever was the cause of it, that never worked. But, well, if not even Shiro managed to teach him to keep his anger in check, he didn't think Matt would be any better. Though, there was a thing called boyfriend privileges, so Lance was willing to try.

“No, we won’t punch people we capture.” They were not going to, Lance wasn't planning on screwing up his first mission as a hero. He had a long way to go until he would be acknowledged as one, but he was ready to do this and become the best hero he could become.

Sizzling sounds increased, Keith's voice was barely heard from the noise, “We can set him free and hunt him down again.”

Lance’s head snapped towards Keith, answering with a horrified voice, “What?” That was… very Keith, to say something like that. But no way in hell Lance was going to let some mullet screw up his first try on being a hero, hell no. “ _Dios,_ no! Are you crazy? We will _not_ hunt living beings, definitely not!”

“Why not?” Keith cried out, “He deserves it!”

“No, he doesn’t. It was just a toy, Hotshot!”

“No it wasn’t, that was _Kosmo’s_ toy! And don’t call me that-”

Lance glared at the back of Keith's head, feeling a water bottle in the thief's backpack that was a few feet away from them shaking with Lance's jittery state, “Oh, and what should I call you instead of your codename? How about ‘dumbass’?”

“Shut it, idiot!” Keith snapped, and the background noise of sizzling and dripping metal suddenly stopped. Keith's arms fell against his sides as he turned back to look at Lance, the fire slowly dimming on the sword when he let it turn back into a dagger. “I’m done.”

Lance felt his shoulders relax, a shaky breath escaping from his lips with the thought of being done here and going back to home, where Hunk was waiting for him with a huge smile and snacks to nibble on as they watched some Disney movie. It was almost too good to dream about. “Okay, okay, now come and take this guy, I need to carry these back.” He pointed the jewelries and money bags behind him with a thumb, the other hand still raised to keep ice around the thief, cold and unmoving.

Keith's face was stuck on a permanent frown as he walked towards Lance and the criminal they caught, but he waved his hand without a fight to create a fire wall surrounding their captive. Lance let the ice melt, letting the water slip away from his control, and felt the tight pull in his gut ease down slowly. He needed more practice to control his power, it was still too easy for him to get tired.

The rest was easier. Lance went through the thief's bag to get the water bottle, and used its contents to spread a thin layer of water around the stolen goods, it all controlled just enough to keep them floating in the air without getting them wet, and slowly let them float in the air towards the hole Keith made in the metal wall, intending to drop them into the huge vault.

Except, it didn't exactly go like that. Not at all.

Instead, the wooden door of the room they were in was kicked open and a few cops rushed in with guns in their hands. Lance could feel a headache coming. He should've eaten the delicious breakfast Hunk prepared in the morning. And he could already hear his roommate's disappointed voice saying _I knew this would happen! I told you to eat, Lance, I really did._

Well, Lance made many bad choices in his life and this one was just another one of them- and almost all of them were the result of him not listening Hunk's advices, but whatever.

“Stop what you’re doing and lift your hands to the air!”

The water sphere with jewels and bags in it stopped in the air, right by the hole in the vault's wall, and Lance gulped with the anxiety that was starting to show up in his chest with a barely there pressure keeping him from breathing normally. This wasn't good.

“What-” Keith huffed viciously, “What are you doing? We are not criminals! We were returning these-” Lance snapped his head towards Keith, eyes wide open. What was that idiot doing?

“Drop your weapon!”

Keith's dagger was _on fire._ Did he know nothing about appearing civil in front of cops-? Oh, yeah, he apparently didn't, considering the way he lifted his blade threateningly. Lance didn't know why he expected Keith to do something else, Keith was really not the person to proceed carefully nor domestically.

He still tried to set things in a better course. They could try to save what they could from this situation, “Dude, put that blade away-”

Keith interrupted him with a snort, “They are pointing guns at us, Frost, I think not.” 

Lance scoffed. _Esto era tan estúpido,_ why did Lance even agree to help Keith with this?

Oh. Right. Because Shiro asked him to. And after seeing Keith point his dagger towards the cops who they were _supposed to be working together with because they were trying to be heroes, not some kind of bad guy, fuck you Keith,_ Shiro owed him _so_ bad. “Because they think we are the thieves, you stupid-”

“This is your last warning! Drop your weapons and put your hands up!”

“ _Mierda-_ ”

“Fuck it.” Keith smashed his elbow to their captive's temple and threw his hands up, a wall of fire appearing between the cops and them, and left the thief behind to leap towards Lance.

Lance caught Keith to steady him, eyes focused on the disaster Keith created to run towards him, “What the hell are you-”

“No time,” Keith huffed with annoyance, lifting his hands in front of his face, “Get ready.”

Lance felt his eyes widen with shock when he understood what Keith was trying to do, throwing a glance back to the cops who were yelling to each other, then to the thief laying on the ground with fluttering eyelids. They really needed to go, there wasn't a chance for them to explain this in any other way than them trying to rob the vault. The thief could even tell the cops that he was a civilian Keith and Lance kidnapped to use as a hostage and his story would be believable with his normal clothing and the situation the police found them in.

People like them still weren't seen as _heroes_ in the eyes of law, after all. They were criminals as much as the thieves and murderers that escaped from the police if not for the way people supported the way they were trying to help others on social media. Lance knew he and Keith couldn't get out of this without being thrown into a cell.

He nodded to Keith. Hunk was waiting for him at home and Lance couldn't let his flatmate's night turn into a disaster because Lance couldn't keep himself from getting into trouble.

Keith blinked once, twice, eyes focused on Lance as if he was surprised Lance accepted so quickly, but then a gunshot was heard and a bullet flew a few feet away from them, lodging into a wall.

“Hurry!” Lance tightened his hold on Keith's arm.

Keith rolled his eyes, pressing his fingers in his mouth to whistle as high-pitched as possible. At the same time, another gun was fired and Lance whined at the noise.

“Shit, dude, my ears-!”

Keith snorted, looking around, searching for his wolf while he petted Lance's shoulder in a calming way. Lance could imagine that Keith was feeling guilty because of the way things went, but there was no need for that, so he huffed with annoyance and tried to complain just like he always did when he was with Keith, “I don't think I can hear from my left ear-”

“You’re fine, you big baby.”

“I’m not!”

Before Keith could reply, there was a figure running towards them, slipping from the edges of fire and barely managing to escape with little to no burns. Even though Lance could see the way their arm was raised to point their gun, he hoped they wouldn't get injured. He didn't start this mission to injure cops, he did it to help people, but he lifted his free hand to the air anyway, ready to defend himself and Keith from bullets all the same. He didn't want to hurt anybody, but he wouldn't let them hurt him or Keith either- even though Keith would disagree with that by saying he could protect himself, but what did he know anyway? That hothead couldn't take care of himself at all, everybody knew that. Lance was ready to save him from bullets like a prince saving his princess, except, well. He would prefer if his princess was a dark skinned, amazing, teddy bear-ish cute engineer that was certainly not named Keith.

But then, in a flash, Kosmo appeared beside them. Lance saw a vicious grin spreading on Keith’s face from the corner of his eyes as he reached to hold onto Kosmo's fur, and felt his own lips mirroring Keith's.

Within a few seconds, they were gone. The place they stood on just a moment ago was flooded with water which put out the fire Keith started and left some pissed off, wet cops behind.

That was exactly how their reputation of the worst villains in the history ever started.

The rest came after they rescued all the civilians from a burning bus, just to blow up the said bus while arguing with each other. No lives were lost, but the said bus was… definitely not in one piece.

> **4.**

“Wait, this is- you are _Lance?”_ Hunk shrieked loudly, arms flailing wildly with shock as he took in the clothes Lance was in, “Oh my god, you’re Lance- my best friend is the Frostbite! I- I have a crush on you!” 

“Hunk, be quie- wait, what? You- crush? On me?”

“No, no, no, you don’t get to do this, this is about you being the freaking _Frostbite!_ Dude, you’re a bad guy!”

“I’m not! And you have a crush on me!”

Hunk ignored Keith’s silent _“Idiots.”_ comment and let himself flop down on Lance’s bed on their flat, pressing a hand to his chest. “You’re a villain. My crush is actually a water-controlling-villain. I can’t believe it-”

“I’m not a villain, Hunk! Come on buddy, let me explain?”

“Oh, no, no way. Not a chance, you don’t get to use puppy eyes on me right now! You can’t escape from this situation!”

“Okay, okay, sorry. At least- let me explain? I’m so sorry for lying to you, Hunk, I really am...”

Hunk took a deep breath, hiding his face behind his hands, and nodded slowly, “Okay,” Then he hesitated, remembering Shiro’s -no, _Lion’s,_ Shiro didn't make this offer as Hunk's friend but as a superhero who needed help with his mission- offer to help him fight against Zarkon and the mask and clothes he hid beneath the mountain of accessories Lance never really touched because _they are like yesterday’s fashion, Hunk, I can’t use them!_ “Okay. I- I have something to tell you too.”

In a few months, they were the most popular couple on the Earth. Apparently, people loved a hero-villain love story that was… not as toxic as it sounded.

Hunk was just happy that he finally got to kiss his crush -who was the _fucking Frostbite. Like, seriously, Lance? You managed to flood an entire city section while racing with Keith? How did you even do that?-_ so it all turned out fine.

But for some reason, Hunk still couldn't get over how Pidge wouldn't stop laughing about the fact that Lance accidentally blew up the pipes in their flat when he kissed Hunk for the first time, but that was okay.

It all still worked out. Somehow.

> **5.**

“That was _you?”_

“Well, yeah… Sorry about that, Hunk,” Lance chuckled with a sheepish expression, one hand sneaking towards the back of his neck, “I really didn’t mean to do that.”

“You messed up with my _cake,_ Lance! I was making that for Pidge’s birthday! I had to run all the way to the grocery store to get sugar, which we had at home _more_ than enough before you _mixed it_ with salt. I had to start making the cake all over again!”

“I know, I know,” Lance groaned, “I said sorry, okay? I really didn’t mean to do that. I felt so guilty afterwards.”

Hunk sighed, remembering the sad, guilty look Lance had when he offered to help Hunk making the cake, the way he kept apologizing while Hunk threw the useless cake mix to the trash can after realizing the mess salt and sugar made. It had been a very tiring day for both of them.

“Well, that happened. It’s no use thinking on that.” Hunk really did mean that, but he couldn’t help himself as he added, “But please don’t touch the seasonings ever again. That was really-”

“Yeah, I know, a nightmare.” Lance nodded, a grin appearing on his face. “I thought I could never get rid of that cinnamon smell on my clothes!”

“Oh, those were your _clothes?_ The laundry smelled _awful._ You can't just mix cinnamon and sweat and god knows what, man, that'd smell so terrible-”

A ringing noise interrupted Hunk. It was a default phone ringing, obviously not from Lance’s phone -considering it wasn’t an obnoxious pop song- so Hunk got up from where he was sitting on the couch, his arm still warm from the way he was leaning against Lance, and walked to the kitchen, seeing his phone on the counter, its screen lighting up with Shiro’s photo. He took it from the counter and accepted the call, turning back to walk towards Lance with it pressed against his ear.

“Shiro?” Hunk frowned when he heard the yells coming from the phone, grimacing a little when a particular shout that probably belonged to Keith with how angry it sounded boomed against his ear, putting a little distance between the phone and himself.

Lance straightened up a little at where he slumped against the armrest, lifting his eyebrows curiously. Hunk shrugged, mouthing him _no clue._ “Shiro? What’s going on-”

“Hunk!” Shiro’s voice came from the other end of the line, a little breathless and full of energy, “We need help, there’s a fire-!”

“No, we don’t! Don’t make Hunk bring that idiot here!” Keith yelled from background, sounding somehow winded. “We are doing just-” His sentence was cut off with a grunt, then there was a scream that got a lot farther away as if someone threw the cause of it away from phone, and Keith continued, sounding a lot more closer to the phone, “Just fine!”

Hunk stifled a chuckle, nodding to himself, “I’m sure you are, buddy. But does Shiro agree with you?”

There were more yells and screams, then an explosion. Shiro came back to wheeze out an “Hurry.” before the call got cut off, probably because of the fact that his phone was now destroyed.

Hunk slowly lowered his hand, grip tight on his own phone, and throw Lance a serious look. Lance sighed, pushing himself up, but before seeing him leave the couch, Hunk had already turned back to hurry towards the kitchen one more time.

The second he was free from the comfortable clutches of the couch, Lance ran towards the room he shared with Hunk, leaping over the table in the middle of the living room in the progress, and threw himself to the ground, sliding on his knees till they knocked painfully against the bed with the burn from the slide stinging. He pushed his hand beneath the mattress and tried to find the fireproof clothes he wore within the ‘working’ hours. He could hear the clanking sounds of Hunk finding and packing up Lance’s plastic sniper water gun -it was a lot more expensive than one would think it'd be with the scope feature- and his own metal gloves that protected his hands from the sharp rocks, both hidden in the corner of a cupboard in kitchen that was not visible unless you tried to look for it.

The second his hand touched the smooth, firm fabric, Lance pulled the suits to himself, both his and Hunk’s coming off from the mattress without a problem with the way they were tangled to each other. “I got them!”

“Me too!” Hunk’s grunt came from kitchen, the thud of him closing the cupboard loud and clear in their apartment, “Let’s go!”

Lance grinned, pushing himself up and leaping towards where Hunk’s voice came.

Water and earth. Somehow, they worked out just fine.

> **+1**

Lance tried to suppress his sobs, his blood-covered hands pressed against the hole in Hunk’s stomach, “Come on, Hunk, baby, open your eyes- say something! Come on, please-”

He could feel his whole body shivering, the rain that was falling all over them left slight stings on his face without the mask he threw away while running towards Hunk, and there was a pressure in his chest, an ache his heart that he couldn’t stand, a lot worse than the way his whole body hurt. But- but his boyfriend was in an even _worse_ condition. Lance could barely see the slight movements of Hunk chest with the rain Lance couldn’t even protect them from, too scared of wasting his powers he could barely feel because of the exhaustion, but it was obviously not enough air for Hunk to look like he was going to survive. Lance was- Right now, he was watching Hunk _die._

“Please, please baby, I love you, please…” Blood was flowing freely between his fingers, the fabric he pressed against Hunk’s wound soaked with rain and blood already. Lance sniffed, trying to keep his breathing steady. He couldn’t have panic attack when his boyfriend -his _fiance_ now, Hunk did say yes, they were engaged and not even after one hour, Hunk was _dying-_ needed him, this wasn’t the right time to let himself cry freely. “No, no-”

Hunk was everything Lance could’ve ever wished. He was good, safe, soft and strong but never violent, dependable, full of love and warmth, and Lance- Lance loved him. He fell for Hunk without ever thinking that it would leave him heartbroken, in pain, because even if Hunk didn’t like him back, he wouldn’t be cruel to Lance. From their meeting to this evening, there wasn’t a time Lance felt the need to stay away from Hunk permanently, wasn’t a time he though _what if I just didn’t like him?_ It was always worth the pining, Hunk was worth all the hidden looks and warm feelings Lance hid from him, and- and Hunk had said that he liked Lance back, wanted to hug him and make him smile and just be together, have Lance in his arms.

And yet, it was all over. Shiro was too far away, Coran didn’t answer his phone, Keith -who was Lance’s only hope- could never come fast enough, and Lance wasn’t strong enough to save Hunk, he couldn’t even keep him from bleeding to death, too weak to properly control his powers. All he could was watch Hunk slip away, his always-there smile absent and warm brown eyes shut.

But- Lance couldn’t let him go. He should’ve just let it happen, let Hunk go peacefully and without more pain than he already felt, but he couldn’t, not when his mind screamed at him to do something, anything to make sure Hunk would keep breathing.

Lance closed his puffy eyes that were stinging from all the crying, trying to focus on breathing properly.

Slowly, his short huffs became controlled exhales, his heart didn’t hammer against his ribcage as painfully as before, and he felt a little more comfortable in his own skin. The silent whisper of the water got louder and louder in his mind with every breath he sucked in.

“You will be okay, just hang on, I know you can do it buddy,” He sniffed, starting to pull the water that was all around them with the rain. There was a painful tug in his gut, a spark lighting up in his mind, but he ignored them all. Before, he always stopped when he came to this point, tiredness pulling his limbs down, too afraid of slipping what little control he had on his powers, losing himself in it and burning out, but now- now, it didn’t matter just as much as it did with the thought of Hunk being gone too much for his mind. He was willing to give his own life for Hunk, he always had been.

The glow that appeared when Lance used his powers -Hunk always said he loved to watch Lance’s eyes when they were lighting up like that, and Lance desperately wished that Hunk had been awake to see the way Lance’s eyes glowed like there was no tomorrow- was there, bright enough to shine on Hunk’s still form a little, the blood looking like black with the low, blue light. The puddle of slightly pink water Hunk laid on reflected the glow in an alluring way as if it was trying to pull Lance's eyes away from Hunk's still form, but that wasn't really possible, was it? Lance only saw Hunk, his smile and the way he was as bright as sun and- and red never suited him that good anyway, he was beautiful in every way possible, in every color and shape and expression but red had never been his color, not when it was this exact shade.

Lance wished Hunk would just open his eyes.

The greedy pull of his power was painful, like there were needles under his skin, which was already hurting with the way it stretched painfully with every twitch of his limbs, far too sensitive. His bones ached, goosebumps covered arms, and Lance closed his eyes.

He couldn't sense what the water he was controlling was exactly doing, not really. Lance had never really understood what Keith meant when he said that he didn't control his fire but instead knew what it wanted to do -wreak havoc, burn, _protect-_ and let it do that by turning it towards his enemies. He had said that he wasn't commanding the fire, he was understanding and helping it to do what it wanted to do, just like the fire did to Keith. Shiro had said that the elements they controlled weren't their weapons, but instead, companions.

And now, with the water was surrounding Hunk, protecting him from anything that could harm him just because Lance wanted Hunk to be safe, Lance could feel that his element always wanted to do that. Water wasn't meant to be controlled, just like Lance. It wanted to move.

Lance thought of Hunk leaning over the counter to reach and hold Lance's hand as he chuckled at something, the rays of sunshine sliding from one side of his face to the other when he leaned forward, warm brown eyes twinkling with mirth and happiness, and let water go loose.

His element wouldn't leave him hanging.

Ten minutes later, the sound of the engine of Keith's motorbike broke through the pitter-patter of rain and its light shined on Hunk, pressed tight against Lance's chest with no sign of the hole on his stomach Lance had said there was. After a few hours, he was all patched up and resting on Keith's bed with Lance asleep by his side. By the end of the week, he was smiling and breathing as if that night had never happened except during the nights after that accident when neither he nor Lance could sleep because of the nightmares. But then, he would press a kiss to Lance's hairline and whisper that _we will be alright, it's okay, sleep_ and maybe they would get over that one day too. Lance didn't complain about it.

With the familiar presence of water calling to him from pipes in their house and warm press of his fiance's body against his own skin, Lance could believe that one day, they could be alright.

He knew that they were going to be fine, as long as they had each other.

Together, they were invincible.

**Author's Note:**

> (I still can't believe I gave two pining idiots -and Keith, oh god, they're going to destroy the city- that much power, this should be illegal or something.)


End file.
